Thursday, November 13, 2014

Below the READ MORE border: a lecture from Paul Barclay on photography, the primitive, and Japanese colonialism. If you can, attend, he's bound to be wonderful. Below that, notification of AIT visiting Taichung Dec 12...

The Birth of "Primitive Society" in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction: Picture Postcards, Ethnogenesis, and Indigenous Peoples under Japanese Colonial Rule

This talk [in English] will take a visual-studies approach to Indigenous-outsider relations to investigate how the interdependent technologies of photography, postcard production, and ethnic classification contributed to "top-down" and "bottom-up" forms of ethnogenesis in Taiwan. I will argue that Mori Ushinosuke's森丑之助1902-1903 portraits of two married couples near "Kusshaku" 屈尺were the first successful photographic documents of "Atayalness" to be made under Japanese colonial rule. For the photographer, these anthropometric-photographs constituted an argument for Indigenous ethnic integrity, to counter the prevailing Qing-Japanese discourse on "savages" (fanren or shengfan). At the same time, postcard producers and newspaper editors recaptioned these photos to change their meanings to satisfy consumer appetites or to buttress other political positions. In both registers Mori's Kusshaku photographs proliferated across several media and even across continents. This talk re-opens the discussion on these contested artifacts because post-colonial "exposés" that assert the abject nature of the represented peoples have failed to mitigate the continued re-circulation of anthropometric photographs in Taiwan today. "Why," this presentation will ask, "does race refuse to die, despite over a century of concerted intellectual effort to debunk it as a form of pseudo-scientific false consciousness?"

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AIT in Taichung

AIT Consular Chief to Visit Taichung December 12 for American Citizen Consular Services

(Note: Payment for Services by Local Bank Draft In USD Only, No Cash Payment will be accepted)

Meet AIT’s Consular Chief and apply for consular services!

Representatives of the Consular Section of the American Institute in Taiwan will be in Taichung on Friday, December 12, 2014, to provide consular services. American citizens applying for U.S. passports and requiring the services of a notary public for U.S. purposes may come to the 3rd Floor, Multi-Functional Classroom, National Taichung Library, located at No 100, Wuquan S. Rd, South District, Taichung City, from10:00 am to 11:30 am. Appointments are not required.

Payment for services must be made by local bank draft (Cashier’s Check) in U.S. Dollars (本地銀行的美金匯票) payable to "American Institute in Taiwan" with no other amendments or notations (such as "Not Negotiable"). We regret that we will be unable to provide services without payment by local bank draft at the time of the visit. Please ensure that your bank draft is for the exact cost of your services. Minor child passport renewals cost $105; adult passport renewals cost $110; first-time or lost adult passport replacements cost $135; all notary services are $50 per notary signature. More details of the fee schedules can be found here.

For passport renewal information and required documents for adults and children under 16 years of age, please refer to AIT's website.

All applicants must prepare A-4 sized photocopies of all required documents before submitting the passport application.

For passport renewals, the passport will be ready in about three weeks and will be sent to the applicant by courier. The previous passport will be cancelled and returned to the applicant on-site at the library.

Please contact AIT's Taipei Office at 02-2162-2000 ext. 2306 or by e-mail at amcit-ait-t@state.gov for further information. For more information about American Citizen Services, including fees, please refer to AIT's website.

_______________________[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

2 comments:

It will be at the Ethnology Building at Academia Sinica. Michael's blog is the first time I read about it--although I do recall agreeing to do this. I'll try to live up to Michael's generous introduction.

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